Replacement of a door header under exterior wall

[Alan CA]

Hello everyone,

How would you replace a garage door header which was damaged by a car impact considering there is an exterior wall above the header?
The header should be replaced. How would you temporarily support the wall above it until replacementis complete? Please refer to the sketch as a quick illustration.

FYI - the wall is a wood frame with brick veneer, supporting roof trusses. I appreciate your thoughts.

 

[phamENG]

Strip finishes for the first 2-4 feet above the header on the inside and lag a band board across the face of the studs. Create pockets in the brick every 4 feet. Slide needle beams through the pockets and under the band board. Bring the needle beams tight to the brick and shim the band board as needed. The jack it up 1/4" so the header can be removed.

 

[phamENG]

This assumes that the studs and brick are all in good condition. If the brick suffered from the impact and has a lot of cracking, it may need to be repaired first as needle beam shoring depends on the ability of the brick to arch from support to support.

 

[Alan CA]

Thank you very much PhamEng. How would the band board hold the studs? Any photo or illustration available?

 

[jimstructures]

Alan CA,

I would like more information about the original condition. Is your sketch an accurate representation of the entire horizontal length of original wall including the opening and support conditions? In my 50 years of carpentry, masonry and engineering experience I find that representation of the original wall as most unlikely. Are there no brick or masonry pilasters on columns or walls between the openings and corners?

I would like to see an original floor plan and wall elevation sketches.

I would also like some dimensions of the original opening, wall length and wall height.

Jim

 

[r13]

If you can't find existing drawing shows the construction, suggest to remove a few courses of the brick veneer, and expose the wood sill plate and studs. You may need to modify/strengthen the bottom of the wall to handle bearing from temporary support posts. What is the header made of?

 

[phamENG]

Alan - don't have a picture handy and short on time for a sketch, but it's usually screwed into the studs with heavy duty self drilling timber screws or pre-drilled and secured with lag screws between the board (often a 2x12) and the studs. If this is still unclear, let me know and I'll post a sketch when I have a bit more time.

 

[oldestguy]

Keep in mind that a brick wall can have significant arching within it. Thus you may be able to take out bricks within the space under that "arch" and do your job. Later fill in the space with brickwork.

 

[r13]

FYI - the wall is a wood frame with brick veneer, supporting roof trusses. I appreciate your thoughts.

Please let us know the material of the header and support posts.

 

[gte447f]

Is this just a gable wall above the garage opening? I agree with phamENG's suggested methodology in general.
Lagging the temporary band/header to only one face of the studs does create an eccentrically loaded connection, but for a non-load bearing gable wall, or even a bearing wall supporting only light roof loads, the eccentricity probably doesn't matter much. If you have more significant loads, like upper floor loads, beware of the eccentric connection between the studs and the temporary band/header and consider additional shoring of other loads.

 

[phamENG]

Good point, gte.

 

[Alan CA]

Thank you very much guys. I'll provide more detailed sketches later after work today although what has been advised here gave me a good idea on how to progress with it. I really apprecoate your input.